Daily Archives: November 18, 2010

Catholic Weekly: “Allowing two men or two women to ‘marry’ would involve a fundamental change in our understanding of marriage, from a life-giving and sexually complementary union to a personal, romantic relationship with no true communion or connection to procreation, says Bishop Julian Porteous, auxiliary Bishop of Sydney.”

Politico: “Mike Huckabee says the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices who in 2009 helped pave the way for same-sex marriage in the state shows that ‘people are sick to death of one branch of government thinking it is more powerful than the other two put together.’”

LifeSiteNews: “An ‘aggressive ideology,’ a behavioral theory of ‘complete debauchery,’ is loose in the world, and appears to be winning against the traditional Christian culture of the west, said Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.”

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “[T]he real revelation wasn’t the seedy, vulgar underbelly of hetero porn – that was no surprise to [David Foster Wallace]. It was the trend towards degradation porn, towards the mainstreaming of porn premised on male dominance and female subservience, towards sperm spatters used as evidence of dominance, towards simulated rape porn, sadism with paid consent. That was what really concerned Wallace. And it’s that trend which is the real problem with porn.”

The Oklahoman (RNS): “A day after ordering a host of changes to the White House’s faith-based office, President Obama is facing mounting criticism for keeping in place Bush-era policies that allow faith-based social service providers to hire and fire based on religion . . . At issue is whether religious groups that receive federal grants can hire and fire employees based on religious affiliation. The Bush administration supported that policy, but Obama campaigned against it. The White House said such questions will be handled on a case-by-case basis by the Justice Department.”

ABC News: “‘People are always saying, “should it be spending or social issues?” How about both?’ Pence said. ‘How about, let’s deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America? That would save $350 million right off the top. I have to tell you as I travel around the country, the American people — millions of Americans, more every day — are offended that the largest abortion provider in America is also the largest recipient of federal funding under Title 10.’”

The Oklahoman (AP): “The state court system cannot determine which of two factions controls a Hutterite colony in northeast South Dakota because the dispute involves constitutionally protected issues of religious freedom . . . The Supreme Court’s ruling came just a day after a lower court judge ordered that the corporation governing the Hutterville Colony near Stratford be dissolved, its assets be sold and the proceeds distributed to members.” Hutterville v. Waldner, No. 25553, 2010 S.D. 86 (S.D. Nov. 17, 2010)

LifeNews: “The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (‘CEDAW’) released its concluding observations for its 47th session, which was held in Geneva from October 4th through the 22nd of October, 2010.”

KXAN: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project Tuesday called upon Walgreens to follow company policy and cease gender discrimination by refusing to sell emergency contraception to men.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “According to Insider Higher Ed, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted this week to review the extent to which Roman Catholic colleges and universities have been faithful ‘to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church’ . . . Although I am concededly sympathetic to the principles set forth in Ex corde Ecclesiae, the point of this blog post is not that the document is right and its critics are wrong. Instead, my point is that this is exactly the sort of internal dispute that the civil government should stay out of. It is up to the church to decide how its universities should operate. The secular government should not interfere.”

New York Times / The Caucus: “After nine months as the Justice Department’s ‘senior counselor for access to justice,’ Laurence H. Tribe, a prominent Harvard law professor and mentor to President Obama, will leave his position and return to Massachusetts early next month.”

“The transformative trends of the past 50 years that have led to a sharp decline in marriage and a rise of new family forms have been shaped by attitudes and behaviors that differ by class, age and race, according to a new Pew Research Center nationwide survey . . . ”

“Indeed, about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming obsolete. And that sentiment follows U.S. census data released in September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent for adults 18 and over.”

“Sociologists tend to believe the answers lie outside marriage. Coontz thinks that if we changed our assumptions about alternative family arrangements and our respect for them, people would be more responsible about them. ‘We haven’t raised our expectations of how unmarried parents will react to each other. We haven’t raised our expectations of divorce or singlehood,’ she says. ‘It should not be that within marriage you owe everything and without marriage you don’t owe anything. When we expect responsible behavior outside as well as inside marriage, we actually reduce the temptation to evade or escape marriage.’”

Associated Press: “The fertility doctor for ‘Octomom’ Nadya Suleman said Thursday she agreed to be implanted with 12 embryos as part of a study on fertility methods, disputing a prosecutor’s assertion that Suleman was an unwitting participant.”

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP): “The Washington Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that student age doesn’t matter in teacher-sex cases, even if the student is 18 and considered an adult by other state laws.”

Iona Institute: “European pro-family groups have warned that a new EU report under consideration by the European Parliament could pave the way for same-sex marriage being forced on Member States. The document, ‘Report on civil law, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Program’ is intended to make Member States mutually legally recognise each other’s ‘civil status documents’, including marriage certificates.”

Iona Institute: “A group promoting the rights of unmarried fathers has called for the compulsory registration of fathers on birth certificates. Launching a new document on family law, the group, Families, Fathers and Friends, also called for all fathers to be made legal guardians of their children from birth.”

Pat Archbold writing at the National Catholic Register: “Rutgers University Professor Helen Fisher, of the Center for Human Evolution Studies has written for Oprah Magazine and today was on the Joy Behar show talking about women making the choice to be childless. She described having lots of children as littering.” Video here.

BBC: “A city councillor has criticised visits by Sir Ian McKellen to two Bristol schools, claiming they could promote homophobic bullying. The gay actor was invited to talk to the schoolchildren to help them understand what it means to be gay.”

New York Times: “Chen Xiaofeng was a poor farm girl. The man accused of killing her, Li Qiming, is the son of Li Gang, the deputy police chief in the Beishi district of Baoding. The tale of her death is precisely the sort of gripping socio-drama — a commoner grievously wronged; a privileged transgressor pulling strings to escape punishment — that sets off alarm bells in the offices of Communist Party censors. And in fact, party propaganda officials moved swiftly after the accident to ensure that the story never gained traction. Curiously, however, the opposite has happened.”

C-FAM: “[O]ne American community has awakened to the International Baccalaureate, a study program quietly embraced by nearly 1,000 U.S. campuses and 139 countries worldwide. While found mostly in public high schools, the curriculum has touched middle and elementary schools, and even a number of Catholic schools . . . The IB comes from a non-profit educational foundation of the same name founded in Switzerland in 1968. Its early money came from the United Nations, as well as the 20th Century Fund and Ford Foundation.”

KXLH: “The recent adoption by the Helena School District of a controversial new sex-education curriculum has sparked some residents to organize a symposium for parents to address the issue and explore their options.”

The Parliament: “An investigation has been launched after UK deputy Nikki Sinclaire was allegedly verbally abused by a former colleague in parliament. Sinclaire says that former Ukip colleague Godfrey Bloom called her a ‘queer’ during last month’s Strasbourg session. She says she was so “shocked” by the comment that it took her two days to lodge a formal complaint.”

The Inquirer: “Philadelphia would stop trying to evict the Cradle of Liberty Council Boy Scouts from its headquarters near Logan Square and instead sell the building to the organization at a cut-rate price, thereby ending a nearly decade-long dispute, under a proposed settlement.”

AFP: “The UN children’s agency on Thursday proposed a new approach for ending female genital mutilation, saying campaigns should work with communities instead of fighting local traditions. ‘One of the key factors that motivate parents’ decision to have their girls cut — “to do what is best for their daughters” — may also spur a decision to stop the practice,’ the report by an Italy-based UNICEF institute said.”

Scotsman.com: “Margo MacDonald’s bid to legalise assisted suicide should be thrown out by the Scottish Parliament, a committee of MSPs urged today The six-strong, cross-party committee appointed to examine the independent Lothians MSP’s proposals decided by a majority of five to one that they could not recommend approval of the principles of her End of Life Assistance Bill.”

The Christian Century: “A European Union commissioner has rejected claims by a Polish government minister that her country’s Roman Catholic schools can refuse to employ gay and lesbian teachers . . . ‘Organizations whose ethos is based on religion or belief are allowed to take a person’s religion or belief into account, where necessary, when recruiting personnel, and to require their personnel to show loyalty to that ethos,’ said Reding. ‘It is made clear, however, that any difference in treatment should not justify discrimination on grounds other than of religion or belief.’”

The Progress: “A few DuBois Area School District residents want to pull the plug on a fourth and fifth grade play titled ‘Santa Goes Green.’ Four individuals approached DuBois’ school board at its meeting last night to ask the board to reconsider its choice of school play.”

Columbia Spectator: “While a proposal for a prayer room at Barnard sparked interest among religious groups when it was first proposed in 2008, there has been minimal movement toward developing one for the Diana Center . . . For Muslim students, a prayer room in the Diana would alleviate the challenges they face in finding places to pray multiple times daily. ‘Demographics-wise, having one [prayer space] in the Diana is important given that there are so many Muslims at Barnard,’ Taimur Malik, CC ’11 and president of the Muslim Student Association, said.”

Catholic News Agency: “Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut has warned the faithful of his diocese that their fight for religious freedom has just begun, despite the defeat of a law that would have stripped authority from Catholic clergy.”

Reuters: “New Jersey’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a bid to recall Senator Robert Menendez, ruling that state law does not allow the removal of a sitting federal representative outside of scheduled elections.” Opinion is here.

LifeSiteNews: “Stung by plummeting poll numbers and stark criticisms by Pope Benedict XVI during his recent national visit, Spain’s socialist prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero is defending some of his most controversial policies, including legalizing abortion on demand during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy, and institutionalizing homosexual ‘marriage.’”

Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “Of course, this vote doesn’t undo the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision; and one question is why the opponents of the decision didn’t try to undo it via constitutional amendment. Amending the Iowa Constitution isn’t easy, but it’s not that hard — certainly not as hard as amending the U.S. Constitution would be.”

Mirror: “Five Muslim boys and a girl, all 12, have been disciplined by the Sidney Stringer Academy in Coventry. The threats came after Darius, whose dad is Asian, posted on Facebook: ‘RIP to all the lads who never made it home.’”

LifeNews: “First Lady Michelle Obama has selected a new chief of staff to replace longtime personal friend and political confidant Susan Sher. She will be replaced with Tina Tchen, who was an abortion activist before joining the White House.”

Providence Journal: “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Wednesday that the parliamentary process has been set in motion for a Senate floor vote this year on President Obama’s controversial nomination of Providence lawyer John J. McConnell Jr. to the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island.”

NPR: “One in every five Chinese marriages now ends in divorce, double the rate a decade ago . . . This trend is sparking concern. Experts fear that the divorce rate will continue to soar, particularly among the younger generation of Chinese born under the country’s one-child policy and during China’s explosive economic growth.”

Ann Coulter writing at Townhall: “Fortunately, that’s the one advantage we have in this war. In a lucky stroke, all the terrorists are swarthy, foreign-born, Muslim males. Only because the terrorists are Muslims do we pretend not to notice who keeps trying to blow up our planes . . . If the government did nothing more than have a five-minute conversation with the one passenger per flight born outside the U.S., you’d need 90 percent fewer Transportation Security Administration agents and airlines would be far safer than they are now. Instead, Napolitano just keeps ordering more invasive searches of all passengers, without exception — except members of Congress and government officials, who get VIP treatment, so they never know what she’s doing to the rest of us.”

Kyiv Post (Reuters): “Russia on Wednesday adopted a draft bill allowing the Russian Orthodox Church to reclaim up to 17,000 buildings and churches nationalised after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. The bill, which sailed through its second and main reading in Russia’s lower house of parliament, provides for the hand-over to the increasingly powerful orthodox church of property confiscated by Soviet authorities.” Via Religion Clause.

Religion Clause: “In the Texas state legislature, Joe Straus, the current speaker of the House of Representatives, is being challenged by two other Republicans who are more conservative. Yesterday’s Dallas Morning News reports that supporters of challengers Rep. Warren Chisum and Rep. Ken Paxton are stressing their candidates’ Christian values and in e-mails are alluding to the fact that Straus is Jewish.”

Wall Street Journal: “America’s strapped states and cities took another hit Wednesday, with California seeing tepid demand for its latest bond sale and other governments pulling about $700 million worth of borrowing deals this week as investors continued stepping away from the municipal bond market.”

City Messenger: “An injunction has been granted against a group of street preachers which places restrictions of them spreading the word in Rundle Mall. The Supreme Court granted the injunction by the Adelaide City Council against six members of the Christian group Street Church and five other preachers on August 31 – with the parties due back in court on November 24.”

Yahoo (Reuters): “The Vatican warned Beijing on Thursday not to force Catholic bishops loyal to the pope to attend the ordination of a bishop who is a member of the state-backed church that does not recognize the pontiff.”

The Mosman Daily: “Cammeray Public School students have been told not to make reference to God or Jesus in the school’s end-of-year concert . . . The school’s principal Pamela Crawley initially denied the religious ban, saying it would have been ‘crazy’ for a teacher to make such a statement, but later, through the Education Department, said the teacher was being counselled over the November 5 incident.”

WDBO: “The backlash continues over those new TSA screening measures, and now one Central Florida airport has decided to go with a private security screening firm. Orlando Sanford International Airport has decided to opt out from TSA screening.”

Lambda Legal: “The Illinois General Assembly is expected to vote on a civil unions bill during this veto session, and Lambda Legal urges the Illinois House and Senate to provide much needed protections for same-sex couples.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued new rules for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals that protect patients’ right to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay, including a visitor who is a same-sex domestic partner.”

Charisma Mag: “A church bookstore in Nashville is at the center of a legal battle being viewed as a major test case for religious freedom . . . [Erik Stanley], senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) . . . said that the Christ Church case is ‘incredibly significant’ for other churches. ‘Wrapped up in tax exemption issues are a lot of other issues of the government making determinations about what is religious and what is not,’ he said.”

LifeSiteNews: “The New York City Council considered a bill yesterday that would require crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to post signs warning that the CPCs do not provide abortion services . . . The bill is similar to two laws currently enforced in Baltimore, Maryland and Austin, Texas. These bills also require CPCs to post signs explaining that they do not provide abortions. The Baltimore law is currently being challenged by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Alliance Defense Fund.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Vancouver City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to back a controversial federal private members bill seeking to criminalize ‘discrimination’ against the gender-confused. The motion, brought forward by Councillor Ellen Woodsworth, supported New Democrat MP Bill Siksay’s Bill C-389, which aims to add ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as prohibited grounds for discrimination to the Canada Human Rights Act and as identifiable groups in the Criminal Code’s hate crimes legislation.”

Washington Post (AP): “A judge refused Wednesday to stop construction of a proposed mosque in Tennessee that was opposed by some local residents who tried to argue that there was a conspiracy by Muslims to impose extremist law on the United States.”

NY Daily News: “The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo prisoner ended Wednesday with the stunning acquittal of an accused Al Qaeda operative on all but a single count . . . The case underscores the challenges faced by prosecutors. Judge Lewis Kaplan barred a key witness from testifying because the man’s name came to light while Ghailani was held at a CIA camp where suspects reportedly were tortured.”

“But what we are doing and what we are accepting and putting up with at the airports is so symbolic of us just not standing up and saying enough is enough. I know the American people are starting to wake up, but our government, those in charge, Congress, as well as the executive branch, are doing nothing.”

“Despite expectations to the contrary, blasphemy laws and their modern-day counterparts persist in a surprising number of jurisdictions around the globe. This article discusses four examples: the ‘defamation of religion’ movement at the United Nations, the surprising resurrection of blasphemy law in Ireland, the Australian trend toward enacting “religious vilification” laws, and the problem of formal illegality and private violence for blasphemous speech in Pakistan. Next, blasphemy is considered from three conceptual angles: the religious, the legal, and the secular/cultural. Last, the curious persistence of blasphemy is examined through an inquiry into why people blaspheme to begin with, and what harms (real or perceived) are caused by blasphemy. The conclusion here is that as long as societies hold something sacred – religiously or culturally – blasphemy will remain an operative concept and legal or social pressure to suppress blasphemous statements will continue to persist.”

“The body occupies an ambiguous position within the law. It is, in one sense, the quintessential object of state regulatory and police power, the object that the state acts both upon and for. At the same time, the body is often constructed in legal discourse as the site of personhood – our most intimate, sacred, and inviolate possession. The inherent tension between these two concepts of the body permeates the law, but it is perhaps nowhere more prominent than in the constitutional doctrine pertaining to abortion. Abortion is one of the most heavily regulated medical procedures in the United States, and yet it is at the same time the subject of relatively robust constitutional privacy protections – often even treated as synonymous with the word “privacy” itself.

Several themes emerge from this close reading of the Court’s rhetoric: disappearance, dismemberment, and displacement of borders. These themes intertwine to construct the female body as a sort of geographical space, a dangerous terrain that not only permits but also requires regulation. This Article contends that Gonzales represents a uniquely literal and uniquely visual representation of those concepts. Indeed, the notions of disappearance, dismemberment, and displacement of borders are united by their association with this case’s unusually graphic – that is to say visual – approach. The Article then concludes with some brief reflections on the significance of the Court’s language in the context of abortion law in general.

This brief Article focuses on the rhetoric of the body in abortion law – specifically, on how the Supreme Court’s language constructs the female body in Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act against a constitutional challenge. A number of commentators have remarked upon the troubling rhetoric employed by Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in that case, primarily because of its paternalistic and sentimental view of motherhood. But the focus of this Article is on the often overlooked, yet equally striking, language of the Court’s opinion that graphically describes and details the regulated abortion procedure itself.”

“The paper is concerned with religious symbols in Germany. It mainly focuses on decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court on religious symbols in schools. Court had to deal with two landmark cases concerning the topic of religious symbols. The facts and the outcome of the first decision very much resemble those in the recent Lautsi case: the parents of a child objected to a Bavarian law requiring that a crucifix be affixed in every class room. The Court regarded this as a violation of the student’s freedom of religion. The second case added another dimension: the school authority refused to employ a Muslim teacher who insisted on wearing a headscarf in class. In that case not only the students’ freedom of religion was at issue but also that of the teacher. The Court managed to avoid a ruling on this conflict of fundamental rights by arguing that the school authority had acted without a legislative basis, which made the refusal to employ the teacher illegal. The paper will look at the arguments made in the academic discussion and by inferior courts (most importantly by the Federal Administrative Court). Furthermore, it will examine the reaction by the legislatures of the Länder, which ranged from categorically banning all religious symbols to allowing only those which are in accordance with ‘Christian and occidental cultural and educational values’, a provision which was upheld by the Bavarian Constitutional Court. The paper also discusses unsuccessful challenges under anti-discrimination law as well as the possibilities of banning religious symbols worn by students.”